BB buys $19m more from commercial banks
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
FE Report
The central bank purchased around US$700 million from the commercial banks until April 13 of this fiscal aiming to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange market stable, officials said.
"The flow of foreign exchange has increased in the market because of falling trend in opening of letters of credit (LCs) against imports recently," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Monday.
He also said that the declining trend in price of petroleum products in the global market has also pushed up the supply of the greenback in the local market.
The country's overall opening of LCs for imports dropped by 6.70 per cent during July-March period of this fiscal against the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Import LCs worth $16.320 billion were opened during the period under review as against $17.490 billion of the same period of the previous year, according to the central bank statistics.
"We've purchased the US currency from the commercial banks to help them comply with the net open position (NOP) rules on holding foreign exchange," another BB official told the FE.
He also said the central bank continued its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange market through selling and buying of the US currency directly besides providing overdraft facilities to the banks.
As part of the move, the BB purchased US$19 million at market rate from four commercial banks Monday on the same ground.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 69.01-Tk 69.02 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against Tk 69.01 of the previous working day, the market operators said.
The central bank purchased around US$700 million from the commercial banks until April 13 of this fiscal aiming to keep the inter-bank foreign exchange market stable, officials said.
"The flow of foreign exchange has increased in the market because of falling trend in opening of letters of credit (LCs) against imports recently," a senior official of the Bangladesh Bank (BB) told the FE Monday.
He also said that the declining trend in price of petroleum products in the global market has also pushed up the supply of the greenback in the local market.
The country's overall opening of LCs for imports dropped by 6.70 per cent during July-March period of this fiscal against the corresponding period of the previous fiscal.
Import LCs worth $16.320 billion were opened during the period under review as against $17.490 billion of the same period of the previous year, according to the central bank statistics.
"We've purchased the US currency from the commercial banks to help them comply with the net open position (NOP) rules on holding foreign exchange," another BB official told the FE.
He also said the central bank continued its intervention in the inter-bank foreign exchange market through selling and buying of the US currency directly besides providing overdraft facilities to the banks.
As part of the move, the BB purchased US$19 million at market rate from four commercial banks Monday on the same ground.
The US dollar was quoted at Tk 69.01-Tk 69.02 in the inter-bank foreign exchange market on the day against Tk 69.01 of the previous working day, the market operators said.